2 year old SSSS'd @ EWR & LAS
 

I realised that I posted this information in a separate thread but as the title relates to a different matter - I thought it would be better if I reposted this in its own thread.

I would really appreciate any clarity on what is the policy vis a vis TSA / Airlines and SSSS'd of children under 12.

As I previously wrote my 2 y/o daughter was SSSS'd at EWR and LAS. Her boarding passes which clearly state that she is a child have SSSS on the bottom. At LAS she had to go through full secondary screening - which was awful and included going through "the blower". A poster kindly on the previous thread wrote that children under 12 should be exempt and that the airline could be fined for selecting her. I would appreciate if that is the understanding of op's, before I go ahead and contact the airline.

Many thanks in advance!

You should write both. TSA and the airline both screwed up.

The airline should have caught it, and exempted the 4S; and at the gate the TSA should have exempted the 4S, and written a report to have the airline contacted about it.

The only reason the child should have been screened is if you came in contact with her - anyone who comes in contact with a selectee before they've been cleared require additional screening as well. But if she was with her father, etc... then...

The only reason the child should have been screened is if you came in contact with her - anyone who comes in contact with a selectee before they've been cleared require additional screening as well. But if she was with her father, etc... then...
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I was a selectee for every domestic flight on our recent trip, so I am confused does this mean it is okay to select children if one of their parents have been selected? Actually, I am not sure that it is even clear from a record perspective that I am her mother as we do not have the same surname. Does that also mean that in any other group that is traveling together that if one person is selected, everyone else is also selected as they have come into contact with the selectee before screening?

Sorry to keep asking questions, but I am really trying to understand what happened and what options if any, we have in terms of recourse. I still vividly have a mental picture of my daughter crying her eyes out going through "the blower" and member of the TSA team in LAS laughing at her crying. :-(

Many thanks in advance

Not quite - when you were sent for selectee screening, did you take your daughter with you?

Point being, as you go through the metal detector, and over to the side for selectee screening, if you come into contact with your daughter (or anyone) at those stages, she'll have to recieve selectee screening regardless of if her ticket designated her a 4S or not because you have not yet been cleared.

No, it doesn't make sense that you'd be a 4S while your husband isn't, etc... but someone hasn't figured that out yet. You can come into contact with your husband, hug him, but if you've yet to go through the metal detector, it doesn't really matter. It's entirely pointless and a waste of time.

A few days ago, we were talking about a 3 year old being on the no-fly list and not able to fly at all. This child is allowed to fly, but just has to go through intense screening. In government circles, isn't this what would be called progress and a great stride forward in children's rights? :D

It gets confusing because so many adult passangers act like children, so at some point the lines just started to blur... :D

I don't know the exact answer to your question, but I can't even begin to tell you how angry that makes me.

Mike

Point being, as you go through the metal detector, and over to the side for selectee screening, if you come into contact with your daughter (or anyone) at those stages, she'll have to recieve selectee screening regardless of if her ticket designated her a 4S or not because you have not yet been cleared.

Well that didnt happen, except when I also had to take my daughter through selectee screening because she was selected as well. From what you are writing, I think the biggest issue is that a 2 year old should not have been SSSS'd on her boarding pass to start with, right?

Thanks again

First, let me say that behavior you describe (such as the laughter at your daughter's crying) is unacceptable, and those people should be disciplined/fired.

Second, I'll point out that I have no idea what the actual minimum age for SSSSing is (or if there is one at all).

To throw out some food for thought, why are so many people so opposed to screening small children for explosives? My take is as follows: Terrorists are not stupid. I think they realize the pax would fight against a 9/11-style hijacking, so any commercial aircraft terrorist acts are likely to involve attempts to blow up planes. Screening all pax and baggage for explosives would prevent this from occurring (assuming successful screening). Terrorists are insane. Would a person who can rationalize killing hundreds or thousands of innocent people and is willing to end their life in the process really hesitate to have their young child die as well (especially if the deluded thought is that the child will become a martyr)? I think not--especially if they know that they are subject to screening, but a child is not. If you talk to someone who works 'loss prevention', you will find that children are quite often used by parents as unwitting shoplifting accomplices (the parent shoves items under the child's coat, for instance). What will stop a terrorist from strapping their child with explosives if they are exempt from screening?

My point is that if explosives detection ("the puffer") is worthwhile, it should be applied to all pax, not just those older than four. Given my understanding of the technology, I don't see why they can't let a parent accompany a child through the puffer so the child doesn't get scared/upset.

Clarification, please. I hope you're angry at the TSA agents in LAS laughing at the crying child and not the OP's questions.

Actually she was allowed to go in with my husband who wasnt selected. My husband was upset that the TSA person was laughing at our daughter and was told that if he didnt stop complaining about it, he would be arrested.

The whole secondary screening process from a small child's perspective, is I think quite stressful i.e. suddenly being separated from their mommy who is standing in a plastic box or going through the puffer.

Also I think that some TSA agents have no sensitivity or training in dealing with small children For example, at EWR there was a long queue to get into security. It is difficult to entertain a two year old that is in a stroller in a line for fifteen minutes. Then when you have to take them out of the stroller to be screened, they might become upset. My daughter started crying when I had to get her out of the stroller at EWR, they then told me to get my two year old to stand properly and to get her to walk through the metal detector by herself. I dont know how many people here are parents, but try get a two year old to do anything unless it involves ice cream is a challenge at the best of times?!

To compare things at our local airport - PVG (Shanghai, China) families with small children are allowed to go through the diplomatic / persons needing assistance line which dramatically cuts down the immigration queue time as well as the security check queue time. In addition, my daughter is allowed to stay in her stroller whilst she goes through the metal detectors and when they wand her. This is such a less stressful procedure. In fact in every Asian country that we have traveled to with her - Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore as well as places like South Africa and the UK she has normally been allowed to stay in her stoller during the metal screening and wanding.

Thanks to the TSA, here in the United States we have "World Class Security, World Class Service." :rolleyes:

I don't know what, if any, regulations there are regarding age but I'm curious why you didn't ask at the ticket counter to have the secondary screening waived? Did you even know that you could ask and that the airline can, under certain circumstances, take the 4 S's off of the boarding pass? And if you did ask, did they say why they wouldn't/couldn't remove the 4 S's?

I am not American and I am an expat living in China so i really wasnt au fait with the regulations, but I did actually ask to see the airline supervisor at LAS to ask why yet again I had SSSS and why my 2 y/o had been selected. She sort of gave one of those shrugs and said we had been targeted for whatever reason (probably like I didnt have my mileage card when I checked in) and that it is against federal law to deselect anyone who is given a selectee boarding pass. She said that the airline could not do anything about our selectee status.

I would certainly hope that you and your husband document every one of these disgraceful events as carefully as you possibly can as to airports, times, lanes, screener names or descriptions and file complaints with the airport director, the airline, the FSD at each airport as well as the TSA - perhaps even your country's consulate in NYC and Las Vegas office on tourism - if you spent any time there, telling them you will NEVER return to their city again after the treatment you received at the airport.